Transcript

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>> Outrage over potentially excessive use of force by police, particularly among African-Americans, spurring the increased use of body cams, tiny cameras that clip to officers uniforms to accurately capture crime scene events. Except when they don't. As is the case in the death of Alton Sterling. The body cams worn by two Baton Rouge police officers failing to clearly show what a bystander cellphone video appears to capture.

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The 37 year-old being fatally shot by police after pinned submissively under a car. It's the second death of a black man by officers this week. Reuters Scott Malone.>> The fact that the cameras failed during exactly the sort of moment that they're designed to record, demonstrates the limits of the technology.

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Police did say that the cameras were on throughout the incident. It seemed to be jarred out of place, they continued record sound and they recorded video, but it was less useful then police would have wished for. The fact that they remained on indicated that the officers hadn't deliberately turned them off, and suggest that they could have been ripped loose during a struggle that preceded Sterling's death.

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Makers of the body cameras say that they go to great lengths to ensure that their cameras will remain on and remain in position throughout police work, which of course can be intensely physical at times.>> Still, civil liberties advocates want answers, not just about potential legal violations surrounding Sterling's death, but about why the cameras failed.

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Despite the failure, US police departments are expected to continue phasing in the cameras. A December survey by the major cities Chiefs Association finding that 95% of police departments plan to adopt the technology in the coming years.